Quotes from Marcus Aurelius

When a man has done thee any wrong, immediately consider with what opinion about good or evil he has done wrong. For when thou hast seen this, thou wilt pity him, and wilt neither wonder nor be angry. For either thou thyself thinkest the same thing to be good that he does, or another thing of the same kind. It is thy duty then to pardon him. But if thou dost not think such things to be good or evil, thou wilt more readily be well disposed to him who is in error.

11. Cuando por la concurrencia de las circunstancias te vieres como desconcertado, vuelve en seguida sobre ti y no te propases fuera de lo justo más tiempo del necesario. Serás tanto más dueño de la armonía de tus actos cuanto más a menudo la recuperes.

No actues en la idea de que vas a vivir diez mil años. La necesidad ineludible pende sobre ti. Mientras vives, mientras es posible, se virtuoso.

If it's in your control, why do you do it? If it's in someone else's, then who are you blaming? Atoms? The gods? Stupid either way. Blame no one. Set people straight, if you can. If not, just repair the damage. And suppose you can't do that either. Then where does blaming people get you? No pointless actions.

A man cannot any whither retire better than to his own soul;

No one can keep you from living as your nature requires. Nothings can happen to you that is not required by Nature.

no man loses any other life than this which he now lives, nor lives any other than this which he now loses.

que está enojado se revuelve contra la razón aparentemente con cierta tristeza y encogimiento inconsciente, mientras que el que yerra por apetencia se deja vencer por el placer y aparentemente es más licencioso y femeninamente débil en sus faltas. Con

Wipe out the imagination. Stop the pulling of the strings. Confine thyself to the present. Understand well what happens either to thee or to another. Divide and distribute every object into the causal [formal] and the material. Think of thy last hour. Let the wrong which is done by a man stay there where the wrong was done

never to be in haste, and yet never slow:

You have to assemble your life yourself - action by action. And be satisfied if each one achieves its goal, as far as it can. No one can keep that from happening.

Use thyself even unto those things that thou doest at first despair of. For the left hand we see, which for the most part hieth idle because not used; yet doth it hold the bridle with more strength than the right, because it hath been used unto it.

Say this to yourself in the morning: Today I shall have to do with meddlers, with the ungrateful, with the insolent, with the crafty, with the envious and the selfish.

the term of your time is circumscribed, and that unless you use it to attain calm of mind, time will be gone and you will be gone and the opportunity to use it will not be yours again.

From Alexander the Platonic, not frequently nor without necessity to say to any one, or to write in a letter, that I have no leisure; nor continually to excuse the neglect of duties required by our relation to those with whom we live, by alleging urgent occupations.

Even if it were possible for you to be remembered eternally, what is remembrance worth to you? Nothing. What, then, should we strive for in life? Right thoughts, beneficial actions, honest speech, and a cheerful disposition. These things are in harmony with, and flow from, the eternal Source of all.

Que seja uma só a sua vontade: a de algo realizar, ou se abster, segundo determina a sua razão de ente integrado à sociedade.

El sufrimiento, o bien es un mal para el cuerpo (por tanto, que éste lo proclame), o lo es para el alma, a la que es posible preservar su propia serenidad y calma, y no suponer que es un mal. Cualquier juicio, impulso, apetito y rechazo están dentro y ahí no penetra ningún mal.

El que no sabe qué es el universo no sabe dónde está. El que no sabe para qué ha crecido no sabe quién es. El que deja sin resolver una sola de estas cosas no podría decir ni qué es el universo ni para qué ha crecido. Entonces, ¿cómo te parece que es quien va detrás del ruido de gente que aplaude sin saber ni dónde está ni quién es?

To live happily is an inward power of the soul, when she is affected with indifferency, towards those things that are by their nature indifferent.

Thou art an old man; no longer let this be a slave, no longer be pulled by the strings like a puppet to unsocial movements, no longer either be dissatisfied with thy present lot, or shrink from the future.

Now it is in our power, not to print them; and if they creep in and lurk in some corner, it is in our power to wipe them off.

La muerte y la vida, la buena fama y la mala, el sufrimiento y el placer, la riqueza y la pobreza, todas esas cosas ocurren indistintamente a los hombres tanto a los buenos como a los malos porque no son ni hermosas ni vergonzosas. No son ni buenas ni malas[192]

Look at who they really are, the people whose approval you long for, and what their minds are really like. Then you won't blame the ones who make mistakes they can't help, and you won't feel a need for their approval. You will have seen the sources of both—their judgments and their actions.